


The Final Voyage of The S.T. Vortex

by ConfirmationBiasMachine



Series: LiS: Adventures in Etherium [1]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Alternate Universe - Space, But not really referencing the movie beyond the worldbuilding parts I guess, Comedy, Etherium, F/F, F/M, Gay, I really don't know why this idea came to my head, Inspired by Treasure Planet (2002), Or why I decided to start working on a new fic even though I'm working on another, Pirates, Romance, Seriously though why are my intrusive thoughts like this, Slow Burn, Someone stop me, Space Pirates, Steampunk, Treasure Planet AU, space, super gay, with some serious moments, you already know
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-18 00:45:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15473769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConfirmationBiasMachine/pseuds/ConfirmationBiasMachine
Summary: Maxine “Max” Caulfield, a traveler of the Etherium on her way to Arcadia Bay for a better life, is castaway following a tragic privateer attack upon her civilian transport vessel. She is narrowly rescued by an odd band of space pirates, led by one Captain Victoria Maribeth Chase, who are fleeing pursuit from the Prescott Galactic Foundation.Aboard the premium Solar Trader, The S.T. “Vortex,” Max works with the crew to discover the whereabouts of their previous captain, the legendary Rachel Amber. Along the way, she learns more about herself, finds compassion from the wildest of places, and embraces the camaraderie of her fellow space-farers, joining an absurd but lovable crew trying their best to survive in the barren wastes of Ore-Gone.If you’re a fan of Treasure Planet, Life is Strange, steampunk, and puns, this is the fic for ya.A few named characters WILL die. The Etherium is not the safest place to hang out, especially for a pirate band.





	The Final Voyage of The S.T. Vortex

**Author's Note:**

> While brainstorming for other ideas (while working on Chase You From the Dark) I decided I wanted to write something completely different, and here it is. This is a complete mess of a story but I've already got the ending planned out and everything. It's simply a question of whether I can will the next 20+ chapters into existence.
> 
> God, I'm going to be writing this for years, won't I.
> 
> Edit: Changed a ship name, for reasons you'll see later. Minor mistake!

Maxine Caulfield lay, dying, on the deck of a ship.

She faded in and out of consciousness… couldn’t feel her own back… couldn’t feel her body...

But she could hear the roaring of intensifying solar winds as the ship entered its gravitational pull.

And she could smell the ionization of the air as lightning crackled around her.

So much for a new life at Arcadia Bay.

Her life was going to end even before it began.

\-----

“...”

“Eriksen’s beard, she’s still breathing!”

“Hey, Warren; looks like your life sensors actually worked this time around.”

“Shut up, Brooke.”

“Captain Chase, shall we take her aboard?”

“Permission granted; Ms. Watson, prime the lifeboat. There’s nothing left to salvage. Let’s leave this dump.”

“My pleasure, Cap’n.”

\------

Caulfield awoke with a start, ringing still in her ears. Her head faced sideways, and she was lying on her front. Groaning, she tried lifting her body up, when a burning sensation wracked her entire lower back.

“I wouldn’t do that.”

She felt cold metal upon her head, and her hands went clammy.

“Wh-what-”

“Stay quiet if you wanna live. And don’t move.” A distinct sound of a blaster powering up hummed in her ears, and she froze.

All around her, about two or three voices were clamoring to be heard. She couldn’t see much except barrels and clean wooden walls. She was likely in the storage or medical unit of some ship. _Not the one I was riding in, though..._

“The plasma burns stretch across half of her back. We’ll need to be careful if we want to keep the girl alive,” a soft voice said.

“We don’t need her alive. We just need answers,” another voice gruffed. “She could be a spy.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” a third voice spoke, dismissive and sharp. “Spies don’t let themselves get shot from behind like this. Besides, the cannon and blaster scoring around the hull was clearly Foundation weapons at work.”

“If we don’t begin the procedure, she may never regain the use of her legs,” the soft voice warned.

“I don’t care,” the gruff voice growled.

The third voice seemed to take authority. “Start the procedure, Dr. Marsh. We can interrogate her after this is over. Ms. Price, I said I wanted you to keep an eye on her, not threaten to blow her brains out. Call for me when you are done.” Footsteps.

With a begrudging scoff, the cold metal pressed against Max’s skull went away. She sighed in relief.

Meanwhile, a cooling liquid feeling began coalescing in her lower back. She groaned. It wasn’t entirely painless, but the numbing sensation stung her nerves.

“I’m so sorry… we’ve only got primitive salves to numb your skin for the procedure,” the soft voice apologized.

“N-no worries…” Max grunted. Any sedative was appreciated after what she had just been through. The stuff worked surprisingly fast.

“Just don’t burn through too much o’ the goo, Kate.” The second voice said.

“No worries, Chloe. I’m spreading it as thin as I can. Besides, with an open wound this large…” Max couldn’t catch many more of her words. It felt like the salve was numbing her senses… she could hardly hear anything.

“...knocked out in seconds…”

And so she did.

\-----

Max awoke once again. Still facing downwards. Except now she was lying on some cot.

She struggled to get herself upright. Searing pain stretched across her back.

“Nnngh!” she moaned.

She fell back against the wall, taking shallow breaths. It felt as though some tight gauze held her back together, but not much else.

“Huh. Thought we’d need to torture ya for answers, but the way you’re moving, I won’t hafta do nothin’.”

She turned her head. Behind a set of thick bars stood a tall, thin but built woman. The most striking feature, her bright blue hair, was complemented with a naval coat and accented with a black doo rag.

Wait, thick bars... _I’m a prisoner._

“You obviously must be green.”

“What?” She looked at her hands, mortified.

The woman behind the bars facepalmed. “No, not like that! I mean, you’re new to this. You’ve never been injured like this before, have ya?”

“N-no…” Max winced. She tried taking deep breaths. Maybe it would help with the pain.

“You’re not supposed to move around so much when you’re burned this badly. It’ll make it harder for your body to heal properly. You should sit tight as much as ya can.” The bluenette took on a teasing tone, shaking her head. “And to think we stumbled upon a lead. Not that it matters.” She rested back against a stool. “What’s your name, stranger?”

“...Max. Maxine Caulfield. Of Sector 33.”

“Sector 33?” The woman laughed, a sharp bark escaping her lips. “Only civvies and Councilors call it that. And you’re definitely not a Councilor. Unless you are?” She flicked her eyes intensely at Max. She flinched.

“No, of c-course not!” Max stammered. The woman lifted her eyebrows.

“...we call it Ore-Gone. Since all the spice miners left. Might as well get used to the lingo if you’re staying aboard.” She extended a hand through the bars of the jail. “The name’s Chloe Price. Resident Master Gunner and Cook.”

Max had to shuffle to the edge of her cot closest to take Chloe’s hand.

“Nice, strong handshake. Not bad for someone with plasma burns that big on your back.”

“Th-thanks.”

Chloe let go. “You’re lucky, you know?”

“I am?”

“Yeah,” Chloe nodded. “Most people don’t get to survive riding half of a ship through a solar storm. That just doesn’t happen.”

“I g-guess I am p-pretty lucky, then…” Max mumbled.

“You got a speech impediment, girl?” Price barked. Max flinched again.

“N-no… just when I’m n-nervous…”

“Ah. Well, that’s no good. If you don’t learn to speak up they’ll put ya on cooper duty all year long,” Chloe sighed.

Max felt another wave of pain come over her, followed by nausea. She declined to respond, despite having no clue what “cooper duty” was, and instead doubled over in pain.

“I told you it would hurt.” Chloe got up from the stool, then began heading up the stairs behind her. “Just… stay put. I’ll tell the Cap’n you’re awake.”

 _As if I could leave this jail cell…_ Max tried her best to keep herself calm. Gods, it hurt. She heard a door close above her, then more footsteps. Then, just the creaking of the ship.

 _How did I end up… here…?_ Max thought. _I was in a transport ship to Arcadia Bay… when…_

She struggled to remember. Her head hurt, like she had been thrown against a hard surface and was reeling. Perhaps she had been.

After a few minutes, she heard a door swing open again, then more footsteps. Coming down from the stairs.

Max blinked. Chloe Price, and beside her stood another tall woman in a tricorn leather hat, jacket and pants, black galoshes, and a pistol strapped to her thigh. The woman’s stature screamed authority, but she seemed rather relaxed.

“A pleasure to formally make your acquaintance, Ms. Caulfield,” the woman spoke up. Her voice was sharp and commanding, and Max recognized her as voice number three from earlier. “You may refer to me as Captain Chase. Could you follow me up to the deck?”

Max gulped.

\-----

Being released from the jail, Caulfield did her best to accompany Captain Chase up to the deck, trying not to bother her healing back as much as she could.

“Hill, send for Dr. Marsh. Let her know the prisoner has come to,” the Captain ordered.

“Yes Ma’am.”

As Max finally poked her head up from below, she gaped at the sight which welcomed her.

Bright blues and purple gases flew by, a dazzling scene providing a lurid backdrop to the entire craft, only accented by the far away suns and their diffused lights. They were sailing through clouds and clouds of solar material. On the deck, dozens of women appeared to be involved in the navigation of the ship, pulling on ropes to adjust the brilliant yellow solar sails, cleaning parts of the ship, and conversing.

Max could have sworn she were dreaming.

“We’ll be out of the nebula shortly, Cap’n!” Max heard from above her. Looking up, she noted the person in the crow’s nest, shouting out instructions.

And beside the crow’s nest, a… a black flag with a skull flew, waving in the solar wind.

A pit formed in Caulfield’s gut.

_I was saved by pirates?!_

“So, Ms. Caulfield,” Captain Chase started, but Max’s shocked face spoke for herself. “Ah. So Chloe must have not informed you.” The Captain gave Chloe a pointed look, who shrugged in response. “Not my fault she’s a civvie.”

“Y-you’re… you’re…” Max squeaked.

“Yes, Ms. Caulfield, we are the opportunists of Etherium, criminals of Sector 33, part of the famed crime sprees occuring in the galactic region of Ore-Gone,” Captain Chase bowed curtly. “Welcome aboard the S.T. Vortex.”

“A p-pleasure…”

“No need.” The Captain beckoned Max to follow her with a hand wave. She limped as she tailed the Captain, feeling the eyes of the crew members upon her. She swallowed as best as she could.

Pirates. It was no surprise she initially woke up with a blaster to her head.

She was surrounded by pirates, legendary thieves, murderers, brigands of the Etherium currents. Even if she had fantasized and read about them in stories, she hardly believed she would have ever come across a group face to face and lived. Thinking of the different pirate tales she had heard in her childhood, she felt a growing sense of dread, even if they appeared to be well behaved for now.

She wondered whether it was for better or for worse that she had been rescued.

\-----

They had reached the Captain’s quarters, and finally Max felt relief from being watched.

The room was stuffy, and over-decorated; fins and fish heads, navigational technology, spare charts and parchment cluttered the room. Holographic projections covered the right hand wall, and a locker overflowing with ornamental weapons decorated the left. It was a mess. But a much better place to be than a jail cell.

She also noted that there were others in the room with her. Chloe Price and another woman stood guard at the door, and a third woman, with blonde hair flowing to her shoulders rested in the corner, leaning against the wall. The Captain sat behind her table, a large thing made of a dark red-brown wood and offered Max a seat in front of her with a simple gesture. She gratefully accepted, beginning a short breather as she sat down.

“Ms. Caulfield, I’d like to introduce you to some of my crew. Standing in the corner is Taylor Christensen, the Quartermaster, and by the door is Courtney Wagner and Chloe Price, although I assume you’ve met her previously.”

Max nodded as best she could.

“So… Ms. Caulfield. Let’s get straight to business,” The Captain beckoned. “We pulled you from a wreckage. The wreckage was once called the _Galloping Doe_ , as far as we could tell from the pieces of cargo we could find floating around. Our cartographers and scientists confirmed that your ship was torn apart passing through a solar storm. Most captains would have turned the ship around before making such a massive navigational blunder. Could you describe what, exactly, occurred to your ship? And why you were on it?”

“Uhh…” Max couldn’t figure out what to say, but collected her words best as she could. “...I was j-just riding the ship as a p-passenger. I was on my way to Arcadia Bay… the sh… ship came under attack while I was below d-deck. I don’t rem-member much, except that as I c-came up for evacuation, I was… sh-shot, in the back. I don’t remember anything past that...”

If the Captain minded her stutter, she didn’t say anything. She simply nodded. “So someone targeted your ship, destroyed the navigational systems, shot the defenders, and left you for dead… curious…” The Captain observed her nails.

“The PGF wouldn’t leave innocent people to die; if anything, they’re the conscripting type,” the one in the corner, Taylor Christensen, mused.

“Yeah? Tell that to the people incinerated during the raids on Haven!” Price retorted.

“That was different.” Taylor countered. “You must be dense if you think maritime laws and military engagements operate with the same rules-”

“Taylor! Price! Did I give either of you permission to speak?” Caulfield’s eyes widened. This was the first time she heard the Captain speak in anger. She was rewarded with silence.

The Captain sighed. “So… despite the presence of Foundation cannonfire, you were shot in the back and abandoned to a storm. Hmm… that’s not Pirate Code either, to murder civilians in such a crude fashion. For one, any aspiring pirates would have scavenged the cargo before leaving. Mmm. There can only be a few explanations for this.”

Max heard the door behind her open.

“Ah. Dr. Marsh, you may come in.”

Max wanted to turn to see who it was, but her back hurt too tremendously for her to do so. The woman simply pulled up a chair and sat beside Caulfield.

“How are you holding up?” The woman spoke in a soft voice, and Max recognized her as the one who was most involved in her treatment.

“I’m… well, thanks.” Max replied shyly.

“Dr. Marsh, meet Maxine Caulfield. Maxine, this is our surgeon, Dr. Marsh. She was the one who saved your life with her procedures. You have her to thank for your survival.”

“It was the best I could do,” the doctor blushed, and Max couldn’t help but feel safer with her around.

“We are attempting to ascertain the reasons as to why the ship came under attack,” The Captain smiled politely at Dr. Marsh.

“Yes…” the surgeon opined. “It’s strange that a civilian transport ship would be attacked with weapons as advanced as Foundation equipment. They hardly have a reason to open fire.”

“Then it wasn’t a Foundation ship that attacked,” the Captain finished the logical conclusion. “It had to be a rogue operating vessel, likely a privateer, outfitted with purchased or stolen weapons.”

“That would mean it isn’t out of the question that the Foundation was involved…” Taylor thought out loud. “Just not directly.”

“Blast them! Of course they’d hire outside support to harass settlers…” Chloe grunted.

“We can’t jump to any conclusions, but your instincts follow mine,” the Captain murmured, rubbing her chin. “The Foundation has accomplished shady acts in the past through similar channels. And the storm would make for a convincing cover that the ship had been lost through natural means.”

“I… I’m not s-sure exactly what’s g-going on…” Max mumbled. “Are you talking about _the_ Prescott Galactic Foundation?”

The room was silent for a second.

“...yes.” The Captain remarked. “The company develops their own weapons technology; they leave distinct marks when they open fire on solar vessels. Usually. We found pieces of the _Galloping Doe's_ hull, with blast marks consistent with that of the Foundation’s.”

Max scrunched her face in thought. The Prescott Galactic Foundation was known for their large industrial projects, often used to benefit lords and government officials. It was a prestigious institution with murky morals. But...

“What are the PGF doing in Sector 33?” Max asked, for a moment becoming so stuck in her thoughts that she forgot she was afraid of the pirates. “This place has no sound infrastructure to build upon. They have no reason to be here.”

“Our thoughts are the same, yet it seems that more and more PGF activity has been reported in this region,” Taylor said. “It stands reason to believe that the Foundation has some interest in Ore-Gone. Which makes our lives much more difficult.”

“We shoulda listened to Rachel when she was still here…” Chloe growled. “Just traveled to the Planet of Lost Angels and never looked back.”

 

The room went silent again, but this time Max felt an immense amount of emotional pressure enter the room. Crew members spoke sentences to each other in short glares. Over what, she was uncertain. She shrunk into her chair as best she could.

“That was out of line…” Chloe whispered. “I’ll... take my leave.” She left her post, exiting the quarters. Courtney attempted to follow her.

“Let her go, Wagner,” Captain Chase muttered, waving her hand, as if to dispel the tension. “Our guest poses no threat to me. I trust you can protect me on your own.” Courtney simply nodded.

“...In any case, Ms. Caulfield,” The Captain continued. “Would you know any reasons for why a ship would want to attack the civilian transport vessel you were on?”

Max wracked her brain for ideas. “I… I can’t imagine. Most of us w-were just poor s-settlers trying to make our way to Arcadia Bay. It would have b-been easier for them to just… I don’t know, b-board us, if they were looking for someone in p-particular.”

Captain Chase nodded. “Thank you for your cooperation. Your information has been vital to us.” She gave a honeyed smile. Max managed to smile back.

“So… um... c-can I go now?” Caulfield asked meekly. She saw Taylor raise her eyebrows, and the Captain shrugged back her shoulders and took a breath.

“I’m afraid we cannot accommodate your request currently…” Chase started. She stood up from her desk, rifling through papers. “For one, we're still three days travel away from Arcadia Bay. Secondly, it would be unwise for a… let’s say illegitimate operation such as ours to be exposed to a civilian and let them simply walk away from us. That would be no good for either our reputation or our business model, would it?”

 

Max’s heart rate skyrocketed.

“Are you g-going to k-kill me?” she stammered.

Chase gaped for a second, then laughed. “No, no, no! We wouldn’t just slaughter a woman after spending our medical equipment to fix her up. Unless you wanted us to.” She gave an intense stare at Max, who blushed and shrunk back even more.

“We saved your life; therefore, your life is forfeit to yours truly. Now you’re just being impressed formally,” Ms. Chase nonchalantly stated. “By pirate code, this means you are to work for us for as long as necessary to pay off your debts.”

“Wh-what’s my debt?” Maxine sputtered.

“In accordance to the steps we took to save your life… six hundred gold pieces, or ten years of service,” Dr. Marsh informed, shifting uncomfortably.

Max’s face fell.

Captain Chase continued her rant. It was clear she had given this speech many times, and was very composed as she went on. Max envied that skill tremendously.

“If you wish to abandon our cause, you have the option of returning to the jail cell, where you’ll be marooned on the next island we pass, along with a blaster charged for a single shot, and a bottle of water. Not the most prudent choice, but you are free to make that decision for yourself, if you fancy that outcome.”

“Th-that’s a death s-sentence!”

“For someone like you, right now, most definitely,” The Captain teased.

“...It a-almost sounds like you _want_ me on b-board…” Max muttered.

Captain Chase gave a wide smile. “Is that a yes?”

Maxine sighed. “I… I suppose I can’t say no.”

“Good. Please sign below.” The Captain was holding a contract and quill in front of her.

Max signed as quickly as she could, just to get it over with. Seeing that she had done so, the Captain neatly rolled the parchment up, and leaned over the table to shake Max’s hand.

“You’re a pirate now. Welcome to the Vortex Club, Max.”

Upon hearing those words, Caulfield felt blood rushing to her head.

She had left the Ore-Gone Sea Atoll to start a fresh new life, not to become a criminal.

Welp, there goes that plan.

Max, overwhelmed, fainted in her chair.


End file.
